Creative Maturity

An imaginative and beautifully designed magazine, Martha’s Vineyard Arts and Ideas, is the creative brainchild of Patrick Phillips. A few months ago we spoke about including my work as one of the featured artist profiles and it has been published in this month’s issue.

http://www.mvartsandideas.com/arts/artist-profiles/heather-neill

When I spoke to Patrick earlier this summer I was preparing to work on a painting which had the title, Aren’t we aging well…which I wrote about in the last blog entry.

The musings in MV Arts and Ideas, about “aging into creative maturity”, were in part a reflection on how I was going to interpret the title for this intimate portrait of myself and Pat…but were also part of a current dialogue that I have been having with the muses about how, even as a mid-career artist…read, she’s gone through enough sketchbooks and pencils to fill a spaceship…there are still daily moments of uncertainty as I sit in front of the easel.

I expect that most of you artists out there who are of a certain age are also still balancing the confidences of craft with the moments of dreadful doubt…especially since so much of what happens between the brush and the panel is a mystery. I’d love to hear how well all of you are “aging”.